Hajj ‘hackathon’ aims to avert tragedies

FUELED by caffeine, pizza and adrenaline, sleep-deprived programmers in a marathon Saudi contest this week explored high-tech solutions to prevent a repeat of past calamities in the annual hajj pilgrimage.

In a cavernous hall in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, thousands of software professionals and students competed in the kingdom’s first-ever hackathon, a coding festival ahead of the world’s largest pilgrimage later this month.

The hajj, expected to draw more than 2 million pilgrims to Mecca this year, represents a key rite of passage for Muslims and a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities, with colossal crowds cramming into relatively small holy sites.

Launching headlong into 36 hours of software development, the participants from across the globe battled sleep deprivation to crowd-source answers to a key question that has long vexed hajj organizers — how to avert future deadly disasters.

A group of five Saudi, Yemeni and Eritrean women, all in their 20s and covered head-to-toe in the Islamic niqab, hunched over their laptops to design an app for paramedics to speedily reach people in need of medical attention using geo-tracking technology. If multiple emergencies arise at once, the women hoped their app would identify the most pressing cases.

Two Pakistani professionals paired up with two East Asian students to develop a “virtual leash” application to locate relatives lost in the sea of humanity by using bluetooth wristbands. Four Saudi men sought to design sensors for garbage bins that would alert cleaners when they are full.

With nearly 3,000 programmers, who ate and slept at the venue, organizers said Saudi Arabia had broken the Guinness World Record for the most participants at a hackathon.